And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
His friends were entirely mistaken about what kingdom He would set up. They thought their Master would march into Jerusalem with temporal power and pomp, seize the throne straightaway, and reign like any earthly king. But He must go to heaven first, to the right hand of the Father, before His kingdom appears. Even good men muddle the nature of Christ's reign.
AI summary
Commenting on Luke 19:11-27
For I feared thee,.... Not with a right fear, with a fear of his goodness, who had bestowed such an excellent gift on him; for this would have taught him to have departed from evil, and have put him on doing his master's will, and making use of his gift to his glory: his fear was not of the right kind, and was ill grounded...
Verse 20. A napkin. A towel. He means by it that he had not wasted it nor thrown it by carelessly, but had been very careful of it; so much so as to be at the pains to tie it up in a towel and put it in a safe place, as if he had been very faithful to his trust.